The Ceremony of Dolls
by kirylin
Summary: Pegasus invites everyone to spend his afternoon in Duelist Kingdom, but things quickly go awry when nearly half the invited guests are turned into dolls. Author would really love to receive some feedback on this edited version.
1. An Invitation to Tea with the Mad Hatter

Pointless disclaimer:

It goes without saying that a fan fiction author doesn't own the fandom for which they are writing, and that the characters within belong to the original creator. If Takahashi-sensei wants me to take this story down, I'll be more than happy to comply.

Author's Notes:

This story has a bit of an interesting history. I had just been introduced to _Godchild_, and one of the early chapters involved a girl who turned people into dolls to keep them from leaving her. The concept of people trapped in dolls is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a new concept. It's one that's fascinated me for some time. As I read those early chapters, I wanted to create my own doll lore piece. I dutifully jotted myself a note in my writing notes along with some brainstorms on where such a concept would work. Thanks to the recently completed season, _Yu-Gi-Oh _made the list.

I was working at a summer camp and wanted something to do while my kids were eating their lunch and playing. Something that would allow me to relax and keep an eye on the kids at the same time. I honestly couldn't have foreseen what would happen next. I started writing this chapter, and the kids didn't notice.

* * *

Invitation to Tea with the Mad Hatter

Yugi Moto sat at his desk working on homework he'd been neglecting most of the week. "I just don't see why anyone needs to know the quadratic equation," he said to nobody in particular. He could sense his other self was about to reply, but he cut the puzzle's spirit off. "I know it's important. I just find it confusing."

_Perhaps you could ask Tea for help_, Yami suggested.

"That's a great idea, Pharaoh!" Yugi closed his math book, more than ready to avoid the subject again. He dug around in his backpack, looking for more homework.

A knock at the door preceded his grandfather's entrance. "Yugi, this just came for you." Solomon Moto dropped a letter onto his grandson's desk. He couldn't help but notice the math book shoved to one side. If Yugi ever had an Achilles heel, it was math. He knew the boy had been working hard on bringing up his grade in the class, but Yugi was more than willing to be distracted away from it by Duel Monsters

"Thanks, Grampa." The fifteen year old picked up the envelope and inspected it. The return address was unfamiliar. The handwriting was elegant. The envelope was addressed simply to "Yugi-boy". He opened the envelope and found the enclosed card was written in the same elegant script. As he read what was written on the card, his other self scanned it.

_Hmm, Pegasus has invited us to his castle in Duelist Kingdom. Surely he's not looking for a duel_. The deep voice of Yugi's alter ego resonated in his head.

"No, I don't think so. It's not in the form of a challenge." Yugi thoughtfully turned the card over in his hands. "When Pegasus wants a fight, he's usually pretty clear about it."

_We shall see._ Yugi worried that the normally laid-back Yami might accidentally pick a fight with the eccentric man if he walked in expecting a fight. Not that the teenager could imagine the pharaoh being that reckless, but there was always a first time for everything.

Solomon Moto's voice echoed up the stairs, "Yugi, you have company!"

"Be down in a minute, Grampa." The spiky-haired teen turned the card over in his hands again, reading it one more time to see if the invitation sounded at all like a threat. Satisfied that the game designer probably wasn't looking for a fight, Yugi relaxed slightly. Even if Pegasus wasn't looking to duel, the boy had learned not to trust him.

There was a soft knock at his door, and he heard the hinges creak as the door slowly opened before he could respond. "Yugi? Are you in here?" Tea's voice sounded small and nervous. Thinking about it, he realized that she'd never been above the shop before. She'd always waited outside when she was meeting him. He wondered what had encouraged her to come inside and upstairs.

Despite all of the questions tumbling through his mind, his heart skipped a small beat. It always did when Tea was around. Turning in his chair, he replied, "Yeah, come on in, Tea."

"See? I told you he'd be here!" Yugi smiled as his best friend Joey Wheeler came through the door. Now he understood what had brought Tea inside. "Hey, Yuge! Check this out! Pegasus invited me to Duelist Kingdom!" The tall blond was waving around something roughly the same size and color of the invitation on the teenager's desk. He now looked toward that invitation, hoping Joey wouldn't notice. "And he invited Serenity, too! Look!" Joey handed the envelope to Yugi, his eyes briefly scanning the desk where he noticed the similar envelope.

The sensitive teenager couldn't help but notice the way Joey's face fell as he handed Yugi the invitation. The young duelist noted very quickly that Joey's invitation was identical to the one he had received, except it was addressed differently. The envelope was addressed rather formally to Joseph and Serenity Wheeler. Yugi wondered if Pegasus honestly remembered Joey's little sister, the reason the blond had been fighting so hard throughout the Duelist Kingdom tournament, or if he had something else planned for the girl. Regardless of Pegasus' intentions in inviting her along, it would be nice to see her again.

"This is great, Joey! How long has it been since you last saw your sister?"

"It's been a while," the lanky duelist admitted. Yugi felt sorry for Joey. He'd been separated from Serenity when their parents divorced, but he still wanted to be the big brother. It was obvious that he cared a great deal for his sister and that being separated from her took its toll on him.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy spending time with her."

"Yeah," Thinking about seeing Serenity again brought back Joey's normally buoyant demeanor, "it'll be nice." He looked wistfully at Yugi's desk, accepting that he knew if he'd been invited, his best friend probably had, too. "We can all go together!"

Yugi looked around the room incredulously. "Everyone's been invited?" Joey nodded. The fifteen year old could hear the spirit of the millennium puzzle rumbling, and he had to agree that it seemed unlikely Pegasus would extend any sort of invitation to some of his friends. He could understand the eccentric game designed wanting to meet with Joey and himself. The more he thought about it, though, the less he understood what purpose Pegasus might have in inviting Tea, Tristan, and Serenity.

"Yeah!" Joey responded. He didn't seem at all perplexed by the situation.

_I don't trust Pegasus. This could be a trap!_ Yami's warning was starting to take a small hold on Yugi. As much as he'd rather give Maximilian Pegasus the benefit of the doubt, he was finding it difficult at the moment.

_At least it's looking more like the invitation wasn't a challenge_, Yugi responded. He could almost hear the pharaoh's snort. Yami was on his guard, and Yugi knew there was little he could do about it except try to keep his other self grounded.

In the background, he could hear the others talking. Tea pulled him out of his thoughts as she grabbed his arm and headed out of his room, "I, for one, don't plan to spend all day sitting here. Let's go!" With a shrug, Joey and Tristan followed them.

* * *

The four returned to the game shop later that evening. Pegasus' invitations had been the source of much of the conversation throughout the afternoon, much to Tea's annoyance. They walked in discussing the plans for the next day, suggesting various meeting places. 

"Why don't we meet here at Grampa's shop tomorrow and set out from there?" Yugi offered. Everyone quickly agreed.


	2. Down the Rabbit Hole

Author's Notes:

I got home from work and typed up the first chapter (the old one you may have seen if you have visited this story before). As far as I knew or cared, I had just started laying the groundwork for my own _Yu-Gi-Oh_ doll lore fanfic. No one was going to read it except me, and no one was going to care. Revising and editing could come later.

Boy, was I wrong! The next morning the first chapter had somewhere around ten hits. I was in shock. That afternoon at lunch, I sat down to work on this next chapter. One of the boys noticed me and came over to see what I was doing. The conversation went something like this:

Him: Are you writing again?

Me: Yep.

Him: You should write a _Yu-Gi-Oh_ story! I bet you could write a good one!

Me: Actually, kiddo, that's exactly what I'm doing.

Him: Really?

He wanted me to read what I had written, but I put him off on the grounds I was mid-chapter. He then started suggesting all manner of dueling combinations and possible scenarios I needed to include. I tactfully explained the plot of the story to him. He was intrigued, but he definitely wanted a dueling story.

* * *

Down the Rabbit Hole 

The next day, the four friends gathered at the game shop.

"Hey, Joey, where's Serenity?" Tristan asked, a gleam in his eye.

"We need to pick up Serenity from the station on our way," Joey responded. Yugi and Tea both giggled at Joey's barely concealed snarl. Tristan had a thing for Serenity that Joey definitely did not approve of. It was always a bit of a sore spot between the friends whenever the girl was expected to be around. "Tristan, stay away from my sister!" The dark-haired teen missed the order because he was all but running in the direction of the station, lost in his own thoughts of sweet Serenity. "Tristan! You come back here!" Joey chased after him.

Tea and Yugi were still laughing several feet later as they saw the blond catch up to Tristan. The two wrestled good-naturedly for a bit as the other two caught up to them.

Before long, they had Serenity with them and the five headed toward Duelist Kingdom. The boys talked about dueling and the last time they had been on Pegasus' island. The girls walked together, pointedly ignoring the boys as they caught up on each other's lives.

* * *

It wasn't long before the group found themselves nearing the base of a familiar set of stairs with an even more familiar pair standing at the first step. The older boy was staring angrily at the steps as if he was challenging them to interfere with him. The younger boy was looking around, occasionally stopping to look the same direction as his brother. 

The taller boy was scowling. "I never wanted to see this place again. Pegasus better not be wasting my time!"

The smaller boy, oblivious to his brother's mood, pointed at the approaching party. "Hey, look! It's Yugi!" The teenage CEO couldn't contain his annoyance.

Joey noticed the brothers first. "Hey! Kaiba and Mokuba are here!"

"What are you doing here, Wheeler?" Kaiba snarled.

"We," Joey motioned to his friends and sister, "were invited here by Pegasus himself! Check it out!" He pulled out his invitation and waved it around. Seto Kaiba's eyes narrowed as they swept over the group, landing finally on the boy he felt was his only real competition.

Feeling nervous under his fellow duelist's scrutiny, Yugi managed a small nod and started playing with the Millennium Puzzle, shifting it back and forth between his hands. Seeing Kaiba and his younger brother, he was starting to feel nervous. _I wonder why Pegasus wanted all of us here._ He could feel Yami's concern growing. _I'm worrying too much_, he thought calmly. The concern radiating from the puzzle continued to grow. _At least we'll face it together._

_Yes, we will, Yugi_, the confident voice of the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle's spirit responded.

"Like Pegasus would ever want to see a fourth-rate duelist like you," Kaiba's sharply-edged voice brought Yugi's wandering attention back to the conversation.

"Fourth-rate?" the blond duelist exploded. "We'll see whose fourth-rate! I'll take you on right here, right now, Kaiba!"

Kaiba chuckled and turned his attention back toward the stairs. "You aren't worth my time." He missed Tristan and Serenity grabbing a hold of Joey to keep him from launching himself at the older teen. Joey broke free and instead raced up the stairs.

"See ya at the top, Kai-"

"Serenity!" Tristan's surprised cry cut the teen off. Joey froze immediately on the step and turned, losing his balance and tripping down a couple of steps in the process. The elder Kaiba stormed past him, mumbling, "moron," under his breath as he passed. If he heard the insult, he didn't respond. He was too busy looking at his friends spread out around the clearing at the base of the stairs and noticing the number was one short.

Yugi and Tea started looking around the edges of the clearing, calling out the younger girl's name and waiting for some response. Joey leapt off the stairs and covered the distance to Tristan in two steps, "If you lost my sister-"

"She was right here!"

"And what? She just vanished?" The worried older brother was having to restrain himself from choking his friend. Tristan, backing away from Joey, nodded.

"Calm down! We'll find her, Joey. She can't have gone far," Tea's calming voice had its desired effect. A few more minutes of searching followed before Tristan found a note encouraging them to make their way to the castle to find Joey's younger sister. As they started up the staircase, they could talk of nothing but Pegasus' possible motives and Serenity's sudden disappearance.

Nearly halfway up, they came across the teenage CEO pacing crossly. He noted the group and barked, "Have you seen my brother?"

"Mokuba's missing?" Yugi asked.

"He was right behind me, and then he vanished." Kaiba ran to the edge of the stairs, "Mokuba!"

"Maybe he's at the castle all ready with Serenity," Joey offered.

"What?"

"My sister vanished down in the clearing, and then we found this note," he waved at Tristan who held up a small piece of paper. "We're headed up there now to find her."

"Do what you want, Wheeler. I'm staying here until I find Mokuba."

Joey shrugged, "Suit yourself, Kaiba." He led his friends past the agitated duelist and up the stairs. Moments later, they heard footsteps behind them. The fellow older brother was amused, "Decided to join us after all, Kaiba?"

"Only until we reach the castle. Then, I'll go find my brother." He walked through the group as he stormed up the stairs, his dark trench coat billowing behind him. The group quickly followed him.

* * *

If he had found the stairs intimidating, then Yugi Moto found the front of Pegasus' castle terrifying. The large wooden doors made the fifteen year old feel small and self-conscious. 

_Don't worry, Yugi. Everything will be fine. You've said so yourself._ The millennium spirit tried to comfort him. Yugi looked up at the doors and sighed heavily as Kaiba confidently approached and opened the doors. He almost envied that courage, but Yami reminded him, _He's afraid for Mokuba. That's false bravado._

The door swung open easily and the group filed inside. As Joey and Tristan debated over which hallway to follow, Yugi pulled out his invitation, "Let's see if Pegasus gave us directions." Tea took a corner of the card to help Yugi look. As her hand touched the invitation, a bright light exploded around her and Yugi. When the light faded, both were sitting on the ground a few feet apart.

"Yugi! Tea!" Joey and Tristan ran over to them.

"That was weird," Tea said as Tristan helped her to her feet.

The spiky-haired teen said nothing as he stood up and brushed himself off. He looked around the foyer and then the Millennium puzzle in confusion.

"You okay, Yuge?" Joey watched him carefully.

"Yes, I'm fine, Joey." The deep voice sounded more certain than the fifteen year old looked. "We should get going."

Oblivious to the misfortune that had just befallen two of the group's members, Kaiba pointed down a hallway. "This way." Too concerned about Tea and Yugi, everyone followed him down the hall and into the room at the far end without question or challenge.


	3. The Ceremony of Dolls

Author's Notes:

The second chapter turned out to be about as well received as the first one. I was still in shock.

By the time I finished this chapter, I had finally caved in and agreed to read part of the story to the boy. I was starting to stop at a local Starbucks every day between camp and my tutoring job to work on the story.

For anyone who is curious, the holiday Pegasus claims he is celebrating is an actual Japanese holiday that takes place on March 3. Families set up a display of dolls to represent the court of Japan, and girls dress up and have a tea ceremony. I've been intrigued by this holiday ever since I was a very little girl. If my playroom hadn't been a representation of the Greek gods sitting round a tended hearth on Mount Olympus, I'm sure I would have attempted at least once to arrange my dolls accordingly on some March 3rd. As it turned out, ancient Greece held more fascination for me than Japan.

* * *

The Ceremony of Dolls

The room wasn't entirely unfamiliar to some of the group. It was a long room with dark red drapes along grey paneled walls that reached over Yugi's head. A long table occupied the center of the room, laid out as if for a formal banquet. Through the forest of candlesticks, they could see their mischievous host sitting at the far end of the table.

Pegasus remained sitting, smiling sugar, as his guests entered, "Ah, Yugi-boy! I am delighted to see that you and your little friends decided to join me this afternoon!"

Protests that sounded vaguely like, "Little?" and , "We are not friends!" came from the directions of Joey, Tristan, and Kaiba simultaneously.

As if he hadn't heard them, Pegasus continued, "Come, everyone, find your places." The sing-song quality of his voice did little to put his guests at ease. The game designer was treating them as if they were old friends gathering when in fact the tension between the duelists in the room was so thick that it was nearly suffocating.

The spiky-haired duelist took an unusually confident step toward the table, noting that a duel monsters card sat in front of the water glass at the foot of the table. As he approached, he noticed that the card had a likeness of Mokuba Kaiba on it. As he made his way around the table, he noted that his card was flanked by cards that resembled Tea and Kaiba. He reached his seat just as Joey found his card opposite Tea's.

"Hey! These cards look just like us!"

"Aren't they wonderful?" Maximilian Pegasus' melodic voice floated down the table. "I had them made especially for this afternoon. Come, everyone, find your places!"

Frustrated by the eccentric man's joviality, Kaiba walked around the table. He had also noted that the cards looked like those in attendance. Finding his card beside Yugi Moto, he calmly completed a full lap around the table to sit at the foot of the table, the seat reserved for his younger brother. A part of his mind detached itself to scan the card carefully. The last time he was in this place, Pegasus had Mokuba's soul trapped in a card. If that were the case now, Kaiba privately resolved to rip the man's still-beating heart from his chest. "Why have you brought us here, Pegasus?"

"Kaiba-boy, you must work on your patience!" Kaiba huffed at that and sat back in the well-padded, high-backed velvet chair. "But since we are all here-," everyone looked at the three empty chairs," I guess we can begin."

Tea turned and whispered to her best friend, "Can't he see that Serenity and Mokuba aren't here?"

"I fear we're missing at least one other, Tea."

"Oh? Who, Yugi?"

He never got to answer. Joey had been looking at the cards on his side of the table. He couldn't contain his reaction at the one reserving the spot between Tristan and himself, "Mai!" The others looked at him in surprise, and then looked toward the card. Pegasus continued to sit in his seat looking rather pleased with himself, as if nothing odd was going on around him.

"Three people missing," Tea gasped. _Four_, the man sitting to the left of the dancer thought bitterly, though there was no way he could tell the others discreetly.

If Pegasus was aware of the noise around the table, he never showed it. He simply continued with his story. "As you may know, today is Dolls' Day. It was always one of Cecilia's favorite holidays. With her gone, though, I never wanted to celebrate it...until now." Most of the people looked around the table in confusion.

Tristan whispered across the empty seat to Joey, "This is weird, even for Pegasus." Joey, and his best friend across the table, nodded.

From the same door where the group had entered the room, two men stepped into the room and pulled back the heavy red drapes from the wall behind Pegasus to reveal a carefully laid out doll display. "On Dolls' Day, it is customary for families to lay out dolls representing the court of Japan. Cecilia and I had been working on collecting a decent set to display. Sadly, my set was incomplete until recently." Pegasus' conversational tone grated on everybody's nerves.

"You invited us here to play dolls? How childish!" Kaiba stood up from the table and started for the door.

"Not so fast, Kaiba-boy," the silver-haired man clucked, "You see, I think you will want to take a closer look at my collection." Curious, Kaiba turned around and glared at Pegasus, who continued to sit serenely, lightly tapping his fingertips against each other. Slowly, the teenage CEO made his way toward the display. It just looked like a standard set of kimonoed dolls until he realized the emperor resembled Yugi Moto. Closer inspection revealed a doll two shelves lower that looked exactly like Mokuba.

Seto Kaiba's face contorted in horror. "Pegasus, what have you done?"

The expression on their host's face never changed, "All in due time, Kaiba-boy. Let's have some tea." He waved his graceful hand, and servants started pouring tea into everyone's cup, starting with the ones at the foot of the table.

Kaiba didn't move. "There are dolls here that look like Mokuba, Yugi, and Wheeler's sister! Now, tell me what you have done with my brother!"

Joey quickly whispered across the table to his friends, "Mai has to be there, too!" The younger duelist's attention turned back to the display where he could now see Yugi very clearly on the top shelf beside Serenity.

"Now, where would the fun be in that, Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus grinned mischievously.

With a growl, the dark-haired teen reached out to the doll display. As soon as his fingers touched the Mokuba doll, the panels in the display fell away, taking the dolls with them. Kaiba let out a tortured cry as he grasped at the air where the doll had been, "Mokuba!"

The others were on their feet as the dolls vanished from sight. "Serenity! Mai! Where did they go?" Joey ran up to the display. For one brief moment, his friends were convinced he was going to throw himself after the fallen dolls. The spiky-haired duelist sympathized. It had taken all of his will power not to add his own anguished cry to Kaiba and Joey's.

"Pegasus! tell us where our friends are!" He folded his arms across the chain holding the millennium puzzle and waited for what he thought the obvious demand would be. At that moment in time, he really didn't care. He'd do just about anything to get his partner back.

He was sorely surprised by the game designer's response, though.

"They are here in my castle. You have twenty-four hours to find them, or they will become permanent residents of my doll collection." Several protests erupted from the group. Pegasus looked completely unaffected. When the room quieted down, Pegasus glibly stated, "The clock's ticking." Kaiba ran from the room, Joey and Tristan close on his heels.

The young duelist continued to stare at the display, willing the dolls to return. A light hand on his arm broke his concentration, "Yugi, should we go?"

_Yugi, I will find you, and I will free you from Pegasus._ The responding silence was painful. "Yes, Tea. Let's go find the others.


	4. An Interview with the Cheshire Cat

Author's Notes:

When I gave my very first public reading, it was this story in its unedited form up through this chapter. It took me two days to get this chapter written, during which the boy constantly begged me to read him the parts already written. By the time this chapter was finished, he had told some of the other kids about my story. So, when I sat down to read it to him, I found myself reading to a cozy audience. They loved the story and begged that I finish it before the week's end. At that point, it meant writing two chapters a night. I was pretty terrified.

This chapter centers around my favorite pairing in _Yu-Gi-Oh_: Tristan Taylor and Serenity Wheeler. Not a popular pairing, but I love them nonetheless.

The game Tristan plays to free Serenity is based on a rather fun board game called Pirateer. If you come across it in your travels, you really ought to pick it up!

* * *

An Interview with the Cheshire Cat

"Now, where did Kaiba go?" Joey Wheeler stopped just outside the door trying to pick the same direction the CEO had vanished down.

Tristan stopped behind him, looking up and down the hallway. The brooding teen was nowhere in sight. "Come on, Joey. We don't need him. Besides, he probably wouldn't help us anyway."

"Yeah, that creep's probably just looking for his brother, never mind the fact that there are other people missing."

Tristan bit his tongue. He knew Joey was worried about both his sister and Mai, but he himself was only thinking about Serenity. No need to add that fuel to his friend's fire. "So, where should we begin?"

Joey looked back and forth, up and down the hallway again. He finally decided on the hallway to his right, the better lit hallway. The two went tearing down the hall, trying half the doors and calling for Mai and Serenity. They finally came to a T in the hallways.

"I'll go this way," Joey pointed to his left, again toward the better lit hallway. "You go that way."

"Yeah, we'll cover more ground this way," Tristan tried to force the courage he wasn't feeling into his voice. He watched Joey's back as he disappeared down the hallway, and then turned to face the darkness. His heart caught in his throat.

_This is for Serenity._

He looked around for any sort of light source to help fend off the darkness, and soon discovered he could pull down a wall sconce. Candle in hand, he started down the hallway.

* * *

"My dear, you make a lovely doll." Maximilian Pegasus carefully set a doll with long light brown hair on a chair. 

"You just wait! My brother is going to rescue me!" Even in doll form, Serenity Wheeler was strong in her faith that her older brother would keep her safe.

"Oh, I certainly hope so!" Pegasus nearly bubbled over with glee. Serenity's doll face failed to show her annoyance.

* * *

Tristan tested each door he came to as he made his way down the hall, sconce in hand. Some, unsurprisingly, were locked. Others opened into more darkened hallways that only filled Tristan with more dread. He finally came to a door that led to a dimly lit hallway. He considered it long and hard. One barely lit hallway in a maze of dark ones was a bit suspicious. His gut told him that Serenity was down this hallway. It also told him this was a trap. Finally, he decided to take his chances. He stepped into the hallway and slowly closed the door behind him. Nothing happened. 

"Maybe this won't be so bad, after all."

Again, he tried every door as he walked down the hall, determined to find the girl he'd been harboring a not entirely secret crush on.

* * *

A faint ringing sounded in the room. "Ah, that must be dear Joseph now," Pegasus mused. 

Serenity pursed her lips together. She had no idea what the game designer had planned for her brother, but she was sure it wasn't anything good. "Joey's going to defeat you!"

"Faith in your brother? How touching." The girl-doll tried to glare at her captor.

As the door clicked open, Serenity cried hopefully, "Joey!"

* * *

The door gave way, the first in quite a while. He nearly fell through the opening as the door swung open. As he attempted to regain his balance, he heard a familiar voice, "Joey!" He stepped inside the room, and the voice changed from relief to surprise, "Tristan?" At the far end of the room, bathed in a spotlight, sat a doll that strongly resembled Serenity Wheeler. Sitting there in her doll-sized kimono with her long hair pinned up on her head, Tristan realized she was just as lovely a doll as she was in person. 

"Serenity! Hang on, I'm coming!" He stepped toward her and the floor lit up. "What the...?"

An odd laughter filled the barely lit room. "Not who I was expecting, but no matter." Tristan didn't stop to wonder who was expected in his place. Pegasus' voice continued, "You've just stepped into my shadow game."

"Great. I like games," Tristan replied sarcastically.

"Then I'm sure you'll enjoy this one," replied the disembodied voice. "To rescue dear Serenity, you must simply make your way across the board."

"Is that all?" Tristan muttered under his breath. Beneath his feet, grid lines formed across the room. The teen could see images inside some of the nearby squares. The square he was standing on had an image of grass in it. Some of the ones at the edge of his vision had images of rocks in them.

"To move across the playing board, you roll these dice." On cue, three dice half as tall as Tristan appeared in front of him. "You must use the rolls on all three dice in their entirety, or else you forfeit your turn."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Oh, and there's one more thing- you cannot move through spaces with rocks or deep water.

_Can this guy have any more rules?_ "Let's get on with this."

From her chair on the other side of the board, the Serenity-doll called out, "Tristan, be careful!"

"Don't worry about me, Serenity. I'll be all right." He tried to sound brave even though his knees felt like jelly. For her sake, he couldn't let his fear show. He reached out for the nearest die. It and the other two vanished, and a giant dice cup appeared over his head. The three dice tumbled out, nearly hitting Tristan in the process. "Hey!" he protested. The voice offered no apologies, so Tristan read the dice. "A two. A four. And a five." He looked at the squares to see what he could do. To his great surprise, he discovered that he could actually see the floor images several squares away. _I guess the first step would be to get to her._ He took all three rolls in a straight line, landing himself next to two rock squares.

His next roll was more challenging. On his first step, he learned that he couldn't move diagonally. He ended up backtracking and ended up by a series of water squares. A few rounds later, he made it around the water and straight into a rocky field. Each roll was more difficult to use the farther he got into the board. He could hear Serenity calling out words of encouragement, which only served to discourage him as the travelable path became narrower and shorter. He finally hit a point where he was forfeiting every single roll.

"Tick tock," Pegasus' voice practically sounded like it was singing.

Tristan glared at the floor, "Like I'm not all ready feeling the pressure." He touched the dice, putting all of his hope into the touch. _Please let me reach her!_ To his great surprise, the dice all rolled low numbers, exactly what he needed to reach the end of the board and the platform where the Serenity doll sat. "Finally!" He walked up the steps and picked up the Serenity doll in a nearly crushing hug.

"Tristan!" The doll clutched his jacket and cried. He smoothed her hair for a moment before he realized, "Hey, She's still a doll! What gives?"

The voice calmly responded, "Oh, you have to get back to the other side of the board."

"What? No way!"

"Pegasus! That's not fair! He's done what you wanted! Let us go!" Serenity demanded.

"Demanding, just like your brother, only more tactful." The images disappeared from the floor. "Maybe I'm becoming soft in my old age. Or perhaps I'm just an old romantic at heart. Ah, young love..."

"Let's go before he changes his mind." Tristan held the Serenity doll close and sprinted across the room, ready to be far away from the voice waxing rhapsodic.

He started to reach for the door to get them out of the game room, but she stopped him. "You came for me, Tristan," her voice was tinged with surprise.

"Of course, I did. I will always keep you safe, Serenity." The doll blushed and suddenly grew into a full-sized living girl. Tristan hugged her in relief.

Serenity snuggled against him, "Let's go find Joey."


	5. The Queen of Hearts

Author's Notes:

The first reading went well. So well, in fact, that I stopped being able to write during lunch anymore because the kids who had attended the first reading told the others. I was suddenly in demand. They wanted to hear the story, and they wanted it finished quickly. I was spending all of my time between camp and tutoring trying to write the story, but I hit a bit of a snag at this chapter.

About two chapters in, I had started brainstorming a list of games to drag each duelist through to rescue their loved one. Somehow, picking a game for Joey was more difficult than it ever should have been. For a sweet and simple guy who would do anything for his friends, you pick a sweet and simple game where you can make the player do anything you want. The kids really thought it was funny when I shared the game I'd selected with them.

The other problem was the chapter title. By sheer accident, the chapter titles were all being pulled from Lewis Carroll. I decided to be a bit more deliberate about it, right up until I hit these three chapters. Initially, Seto's chapter was supposed to be the fifth chapter with its Carroll-esque title. This chapter yielded no title whatsoever, no matter how hard I thought about it. When the chapter title finally presented itself to me, I was heartbroken. I had already determined the name for Yami and Tea's chapter, and I had this flow of chapter titles I didn't like: "The Red King and the White Queen", "The Queen of Hearts", and "The King of Games". I spent a day trying to figure out how to make it work, even debating it with the kids. Finally, the only solution to my woes became to swap Joey's chapter with Seto's chapter. It turns out that the four chapters flow much better this way.

* * *

The Queen of Hearts

Joey bolted down the hallway, calling at the top of his lungs, "Serenity! Mai!" He occasionally tried to open doors, which wouldn't budge. Finally, he came to a dead end with three doors.

"Eeny, meeny, mitey, moe. I choose that door," his finger pointing to the door on the right. The door didn't open when he tried it. "Fine. The middle door is too obvious, so it's gotta be the other door." That door similarly didn't budge when he went to open it. Not easily discouraged, Joey went to open the middle door, stunned when it also failed to open. "No way! One of them should have opened!" He stepped back toward the middle of the dead end. The floor rumbled and then gave way beneath him. He let out a strangled cry as he tumbled into darkness.

When he finally landed, he was still in the dark, but he could hear distorted carnival music. As the room slowly filled with light, Joey could see that the room itself was decorated in vibrant jewel tones with some pastels thrown in for a truly disconcerting look. "This place really is a carnival." he remarked to nobody.

Somebody responded, though. "Ah, there you are, Joseph. I was starting to think you'd never show up."

Joey recognized the voice immediately. "Pegasus, where are Serenity and Mai?".

"Your sister was just rescued by a rather good-looking fellow. A friend of yours, I believe."

"Tristan," Joey growled under his breath. It wasn't that he didn't trust his friend, but he knew enough about the guy to be uncomfortable with his persistent pursuit of Serenity.

Pegasus took the opportunity to further annoy Joey, "They make quite the attractive couple."

"No, they-," Joey stopped mid-protest. _Pegasus is distracting me, that jerk!_ Without missing a beat, he shifted his attention to the other missing woman. "Where's Mai?"

"Ah, yes. Mai Valentine. Lovely woman." Joey snarled. The voice sounded amused as it continued, "She's here. Quite the doll. Get it?" Pegasus' voice chuckled at its own joke.

Joey wasn't laughing. "Let me see her!"

"All in due time, Joseph, but first I want you to play a game with me."

"And me without my deck. Guess you'll have to think of something else, Pegasus."

"Fortunately, I already have," the eccentric man's honeyed voice replied.

"Whaddya mean?" Joey was certain he didn't care for the direction this conversation was going.

"Do you remember the children's game 'Mother, May I'?"

"Yeah," Joey replied trepidatiously.

"Then you're going to love the shadow game version!" He could almost hear Pegasus clapping with glee. _Something tells me I won't_,Joey thought glumly, _but I'll do anything to save Mai._

The voice called out, "Take three steps forward." _I don't believe this!_ Joey thought as he took the first step. The floor crackled and Joey felt a sharp pain in his ankle. Pegasus' voice clucked, "You forgot to say, 'Mother, may I?'"

_I'm not calling this jerk Mother._ "Fine." He stepped back. "May I?"

Amused by the defiant behavior, the voice said, "Yes, you may." The game continued with Joey completing each request, no matter how ridiculous. Each time he forgot to ask permission, the floor electrocuted him.

"Man, I hope Mai appreciates this!" he mumbled as he was shocked for the fourth time. He stumbled through the next few commands. The electric shocks were becoming more intense.

"Come now, Joseph. Giving up so soon?" Pegasus' voice teased him as the blond duelist nearly fell to the floor after yet another shock.

"Hardly, Pegasus." _I'm just drained from the electrotherapy treatment._

"Oh, good. Then let's continue, shall we?" Joey groaned. He was ready to be done with this game.

Unrelentingly, Pegasus gave him more absurd commands. Too stubborn to surrender, Joey completed every order. He was very cautious and made sure that he always asked permission before moving. After an interminably long series of commands, Joey found himself at the base of a staircase.

"Congratulations, Joseph! You made it to the end of the game! Walk up the stairs and claim your prize."

"Pegasus, if this is a trick-," Joey's temper was unusually short.

"No trick, I assure you."

_Somehow, his word just isn't reassuring_, Joey thought as he started up the stairs. He found a small room at the end of the staircase with a normal-sized chair in the center. Seated in the chair was the doll in which Mai Valentine was trapped.

"Joey! Am I glad to see you?" the doll exclaimed.

"Mai, you're...still a doll?" he sounded disappointed.

"Were you expecting me to be myself?" Mai wasn't entirely certain she expected to still be a doll either, but she loved Joey's confused look.

"Well," Joey thought about it for a moment, "yeah, actually, I did." Mai shook her doll head in amusement. As she did, her form changed from doll back to human. Joey's face brightened, "Now, that's more like it!"

Mai smiled, "It feels good to be back to normal." She stretched a bit, readjusting to being full size again. Then she faced Joey, "Serenity was trapped with us."

"Yeah, I know. Pegasus says Tristan rescued her, but I don't trust that guy."

"Tristan, huh? Well, who would've guessed?" Before Joey could respond, Mai continued, "Although, I guess he's been sweet on her for a while." Joey flinched. Why was everybody saying things like that today?

Mai smiled at Joey's discomfort. "What? Your sister has the right to be happy. And Tristan is one of your best friends. I thought you'd be happy for them."

Joey just growled. The problem was, he wasn't sure if he was growling at the thought of Tristan and Serenity, or if he was growling because he knew deep down that Mai was right. Besides, Tristan had turned out to be an okay guy. Serenity could do much worse.

"Come on, let's go find your sister and Tristan," Mai said, a certain fondness in her voice. She pulled on his arm and him back toward the hallway.


	6. The Red King and the White Queen

Author's Notes:

The best part of this chapter was that moment before I started writing when I, in a senior moment, asked myself what game Seto was going to have to play to get Mokuba back. Yep, you can insert a "duh" here. I certainly did once I stopped laughing at myself. The kids would have had my head if I had him playing anything else.

This was perhaps one of my favorite chapters to write. This could have something to do with the fact that Seto Kaiba is my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character. This could also have a lot to do with the fact that I adore the relationship between the Kaiba brothers. It really warms the heart, as it's just about the only time you see Seto show any sort of emotion.

* * *

The Red King and the White Queen

Seto Kaiba was frustrated.

He had been searching the castle for several hours. Twelve, to be exact. He'd screamed himself hoarse trying to find his younger brother. At this point, the teenaged CEO had walked through every inch of space accessible inside the castle. He now set his sights on the outside grounds. Getting outside was a trick. Every time he found a door, it led to a dark room or hallway. He soon discovered that the only door that would lead him outside was the one he entered earlier with Yugi Moto. Once outside, he wound his way around the exterior of the castle, trying to repress an involuntary shudder at a familiar parapet. The nooks and crannies of the castle's outside walls were as useless as the interior had been.

_I know you're here somewhere, Mokuba, and I won't give up until I've found you._

The rock walls eventually yielded a staircase that led into a hedge maze. Kaiba was furious, "I don't have time for this!" Nevertheless, he wandered the maze, choosing to follow the right hand wall of the maze until he came to a large clearing in the middle of the maze. The clearing had been sculpted into a giant chess board. Red chess pieces filled the two rows closest to Kaiba. The opposite side of the board sported white chess pieces. Kaiba barely noted the life-sized game board as he followed the right wall around the clearing. To his horror, he discovered that not only was there not another way out of the clearing, but the opening he had come through was now gone. He turned back to face the chess board. The kings were as tall as he was, the pawns as small as Mokuba. He walked to the board, and then walked along all four of its edges.

When he reached the side where the red pieces were lined up, he heard a voice coming from the white side of the board, "Care to play a game, Kaiba-boy?"

"I want my brother, Pegasus!"

The man smiled, "Of course. That is easily arranged." Pegasus clapped, and one of the white pawns was suddenly replaced with the Mokuba doll.

Upon seeing Kaiba, the doll cried out, "Seto!"

Kaiba reacted, starting to walk toward his brother, "Mokuba!" An invisible barrier kept him from reaching his brother. He tried to approach the pawn from a few different angles, but ran into the invisible wall every time.

"So, what do you say, Kaiba? Shall we play a little game?"

"What choice do I have?" Seto Kaiba hated the feeling of being cornered. He reluctantly walked back to the edge of the board, away from his brother.

"Excellent! Let's begin." Pegasus settled himself into a chair near the board. "You may make the first move, Kaiba-boy."

Kaiba didn't respond, but instead simply paced behind his side of the board. He made his first move, a pawn to the center of the chess board. Pegasus mirrored his move.

_This should be an easy game. This is my game._ Kaiba could feel his confidence growing as he strategically positioned key pieces, while Pegasus continually made mistakes. Pegasus was passing up key opportunities for captures in favor of setting up weak defenses. Eventually, the teen tired of being toyed with. He commanded a bishop to capture a pawn. The resulting explosion obliterated the pawn and took a decent chunk out of the bishop.

"What?" Kaiba staggered back a few steps in shock.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" Pegasus asked, off-handedly. "A captured piece is destroyed. The capturing piece is injured." Kaiba's eyes went directly to his brother. He didn't like the irony of Mokuba being used as a pawn. Now that he knew the stakes of the game, he realized that he didn't want any part of it. Every move would now have to be weighed against his brother's safety.

He resented having to pull his punches.

Pegasus quickly realized that Kaiba wasn't playing his normal game. He started creating situations on the board where Mokuba had the potential for being captured, and the duelist was responding by giving up stronger pieces in a desperate attempt to protect the doll.

"This is far too easy, Kaiba-boy!" Pegasus gloated as the younger man lost a knight.

Kaiba took a step back from the board and looked carefully at the situation._ I've let my desire to protect Mokuba distract me from the game._ With some annoyance, he realized that his defensive playing had left him in the weaker position. It was time to go on the offensive. Keeping one eye on the Mokuba doll, Kaiba started rebuilding his strategy. As he started capturing Pegasus' pieces, he warned the man, "If you thought you were going to win this game, you were sorely mistaken." Pegasus merely smiled at the threat.

The game continued until there were only a handful of pieces left on the board. Kaiba had Pegasus on the run, continually cornering the eccentric game designer's king. He failed to notice that Pegasus was driving him toward one side of the board. Kaiba cornered the king once again, carefully setting a series of back-up plans if Pegasus decided to capture a piece.

The older duelist thinly smiled, "So, you think you've won, Kaiba-boy?" He used a pawn to capture the piece closest to the king.

Kaiba gasped. His perfect plan had just fallen apart. The pawn now available for capture, the one he needed to take in order to set his plan in motion, was the Mokuba doll. He looked around for a better move, but never found one. His inherent competitive streak competed strongly with his sense of duty as an older brother. The Mokuba doll saw the struggle within his older brother. While he had never played chess himself, he had watched his brother often enough to understand the dilemma Kaiba was now facing.

"Seto! I'll be all right! Just beat this creep!" Mokuba's words of encouragement did little to help Kaiba.

After thinking long and hard, considering his options, Seto Kaiba made the hardest decision of his gaming career. "Bishop, capture that pawn!" The piece moved over, the resulting blast sending shards everywhere. When the dust settled, Kaiba's heart broke. As expected, the Mokuba doll was gone from the board.

"Bold move, Kaiba-boy."

"Shut up. Let's finish this, Pegasus." The game ended only a few rounds later, the teenage CEO's careful planning paying off.

"Well done, Kaiba-boy. That may have been one of the best chess games I've ever played."

The teenager didn't care. "Where is my brother?"

Pegasus smiled at the younger duelist's single-mindedness. "He's here...somewhere."

Kaiba growled. Behind him, a voice said, "Seto?"

He turned around, eyes widening, "Mokuba!"

"Your attack freed me! When the doll exploded, I was returned to my normal body!" The little boy ran to his brother, who was kneeling with his arms open.

When Mokuba reached him, Kaiba picked him up. "We're getting out of here!"

"But what about the others?"

"They can take care of themselves. We're getting out of here" With that, he stormed out of the opening that had appeared in the hedge wall and made his way back toward the castle and the staircase that would take them away from Maximilian Pegasus.


	7. The King of Games

Author's Notes:

Let me preface this chapter by stating that I am a fan of neither Yami nor Tea, so this chapter was a bit hard to write. Let me also say how much fun it was to separate Yugi and Yami. If there powers that be could do it in Waking the Dragons, then I felt absolutely no shame in taking one of them and sealing him up in a doll. I actually debated for several minutes over which one to take before finally deciding it would have more impact if it was Yugi who was missing. Yami, for all that is truly annoying about him, really is the one who's better at being heartsick and emotional.

By this point in the story, all of the kids were blowing off play time to listen to the story. Some of them liked it so much that they thought I ought to submit it to become a story arc for the actual show. I laughed. It was very sweet.

* * *

The King of Games

"This is terrible! We're running out of time!" Tea Gardner was nearing a state of panic. They still hadn't found anybody, not even the others who were out searching. Despite being with Yugi, she felt terribly alone. For some reason, the fifteen year old was trapped in his own thoughts, barely acknowledging her presence. "We can't let Serenity, Mai, and Mokuba be turned permanently into dolls!"

Yami was also becoming more agitated with each passing hour. As Tea continued to fret, Yami decided to tell her the truth. "Or Yugi."

The graceful teenager stopped and turned to look at him. "What?" In the back of her mind, she realized she knew what he was about to say. She had noticed at the table that his voice was deeper and a familiar air of confidence had been surrounding her friend all day. This was the other Yugi.

Yami nodded. "Yugi's been missing since we entered the castle."

"You mean since Pegasus' invitation blasted us," Tea realized. "We have to find him."

"We will, Tea," Yami replied reassuringly, despite his own concerns that they wouldn't find Yugi in time. All ready, eighteen hours had passed, and there was still no sign of the teenager.

The dancer pointed to a door, "Have we tried that one yet?"

"I don't know. Let's try it, just to be sure." Yami felt like they had been going in circles. Every hallway looked the same as the next. The door opened before them into a room. Inside the unexpectedly spacious room, there were large mats on the floor. Tea and Yami wandered in between them, noticing that every mat looked exactly the same.

Tea shuddered as she looked around, "What is this place? I doubt Pegasus conducts exercise classes."

The duelist knelt to inspect one of the mats. "Just as I suspected, These aren't for exercise, Tea."

"What do you mean?"

"They're cards."

"Cards? Why would somebody make large cards and spread them out like this?"

"I was hoping you might want to play a game," replied a voice behind them.

They both turned. "Pegasus!"

He passed between them and walked to the far end of the room. "It's a simple game. You flip over two cards. If they match, they vanish."

"And if they don't?" Yami asked.

Pegasus smiled. "You can miss three times. Then, little Yugi becomes a doll forever." Yami fought to keep his face stoic. _Pegasus knows what he's done!_

Tea looked out over the cards, "There are so many. Where do we begin?"

Yami walked to the card nearest the door. "Take the corner opposite from me, Tea. We'll each flip a card." She walked across the room, butterflies taking over her stomach, and took her place. They both flipped over their first cards together, revealing an ankh and a sphere with an eye embossed on it. From somewhere near where Pegasus was watching the game, a loud gong sounded. The game designer clapped lightly in amusement.

"We can't make mistakes!" Tea reminded him. _As if I could forget_, he thought.

She flipped over her next card, a set of scales. Yami flipped over his next card. Another set of scales! They were in luck! The cards vanished, and an outline of the scales appeared on one wall. Tea's next flip revealed an ankh, and she quickly ran back to her other ankh card and flipped it over. The second mistake came a few moves later when a pyramid with an eye failed to match an image of Yugi. Seeing their friend on a card shocked them both. Again, Pegasus took delight in the sound of the gong and in the pair's distress.

"I thought Yugi was trapped in a doll," Tea sounded confused.

The pharaoh nodded. "Let's keep going and see what appears when we match them."

Luck continued to be on their side as they slowly and methodically made their way through the remaining cards, Yami prefacing every flip with a strong wish to find Yugi. The walls reflected their success. They were lined with outlines of a set of scales, an ankh, a pyramid with an eye, a circle with points hanging off, and a rod. Yami noted somewhere in the back of his mind that all of the cards were the Millennium items plus Yugi.

From his seat at the end of the room, Pegasus was watching the game intently. "Be careful! You wouldn't want Yugi-boy to be trapped here forever, would you?" he asked tauntingly as he watched the pair run to the next cards they intended to flip.

Tea flipped over a card with a necklace that had a long eye as the centerpiece. She moved to another card as Yami moved to one of his own cards. Realizing both had moved, they both froze. _We have to be careful_, Yami reminded himself. _One more mistake will leave Yugi in doll form._ "Tea, don't move. This is the right card."

"Are you sure?"

_For Yugi's sake, I have to be sure._ "Yes, Tea, I'm certain." She slowly backed away from her own card as Yami flipped his. Sure enough, the pharaoh was correct. The Millennium necklace appeared on the wall, quickly followed by the Millennium eye. Two cards remained face down, the two Yami knew contained the likeness of Yugi on them. He and Tea each grabbed a card and flipped them. The image grinned at them briefly before the cards disappeared, leaving the Yugi doll in their place.

"Yugi!" Tea scooped the doll into a crushing hug, twirling around. Relieved to see his other half, Yami just smiled at the display. As Tea completed her twirl, Yugi grew back to his normal size. She nearly dropped him in surprise. The teen walked over to face his alter ego. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Yami stepped forward. They separately occupied the same space for a moment before combining, leaving Yugi as the only one visible.

"Are you all right, Yugi?" Tea placed a hand on his shoulder.

As his heart skipped a beat, he smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine, Tea! Thanks for coming after me!"

She returned the smile, "I'm just happy you're back." Both looked toward the end of the room, toward Pegasus. To their great surprise, the man was no longer there. _He must have wandered off when we beat his game_, Yami supposed. His newly restored partner just nodded.

The friends headed out of the room, back into the maze of hallways. Tea tried to reconstruct the path she and the pharaoh had taken to end up in the room, but soon they were lost. As they rounded a corner, a man approached them, "Mister Pegasus would like you to return to the great hall."

They followed him down the hall and back to the room they first sat with Pegasus nearly a day before.


	8. Pegasus Unmasked

Author's Note:

Here we are, the final chapter of my doll lore fanfic. I'm awful at conclusions. I always have been. It's probably why I have so many unfinished projects lying around. I've actually made a goal for myself next year to finish any and all unfinished projects. I'm not even allowing myself to pick up a new project until all the projects in that area are finished. My writing list alone stretches into April at this point!

I still have JaNoWriMo, to do on top of that, too. I'm planning to use it to work on my ignored NaNovel from this year, but still...

I finished the story during the week, much to the kids' relief. I ended up reading it in its entirety three times that week, and then another five or so times the next week. They begged for another story, so I started working on a couple. They're here in their unfinished and unedited forms respectively. Thank you for reading the whole way through. I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of the Yu-Gi-verse.

* * *

Pegasus Unmasked

Nearly everybody else was sitting around the table at their assigned places. Only Kaiba was out of place, and he had only shifted down a seat to be beside his younger brother. The head of the table was still missing, a fact that was not going unnoticed by the eight people present, but few could be heard over Joey's complaints.

"That jerk! His goons bring us back here against our will, and then he doesn't even show up!"

"Not to mention everything he's put us through today," Tristan muttered, squeezing Serenity's hand under the tablecloth, away from Joey's eyes. As the girl returned the squeeze, he found himself grateful that his friend seemed to be easing up on him for liking Serenity. Joey had approached him after he and Mai arrived back in the hall and told him that he wasn't comfortable with the situation, but he was going to try to be more accepting. Next to the high he was already feeling after winning Serenity's freedom, it made Tristan's heart nearly explode.

Everyone around the table seemed to be a mixture of relief and annoyance. Mai was good-naturedly ribbing Joey, and once Tea and Yugi had returned to the hall, the dancer started helping the blonde duelist in her torment of her smart-alec companion. He tried to get the attention away from him by trying to deflect the girls' attention toward Yugi or Kaiba. Yugi, who was a bit more relaxed than he had been the last time he was sitting at the table, was lost in his own thoughts and failed to notice Tea trying to pull him into the conversation.

The Kaiba brothers had decided to pass their time waiting for Pegasus by playing a makeshift game of tic-tac-toe. It was difficult to tell if Seto was growling out of annoyance at Pegasus, or because Mokuba seemed to be winning most of the games. Every time the little boy won, he giggled, filling the room with mirth and warmth. Trying to outthink the brother who knew him almost better than he knew himself, Kaiba also missed Mai's attempts to pull him into the conversation at the other end of the table.

Some time after Tea and Yugi had taken their seats at the table again, the door creaked open and Pegasus walked in, showing the same maddening calm he had been displaying since they first sat down to tea twenty-four hours ago. He sat down quietly and waved his hand. Men appeared and placed tea in front of everyone again. It was the tea party that seemed to never end.

"What's the meaning of this?" Kaiba demanded. Mokuba reached across his brother to swipe a handful of sugar cubes, but the CEO was too angry to notice.

"It's tea. Drink up!" Pegasus lifted his mug in a small salute, "To your health, Kaiba-boy." Kaiba responded by pushing away the mug before him.

"Pegasus, you invited us here. You kidnapped some of us. You put the rest of us through awful, dangerous games. Now, you expect us to have tea with you like nothing happened?" Tea nearly rose from her seat to chastise the eccentric man beside her, who responded by slowly sipping his tea. The girl's temper wasn't nearly enough to intimidate the eccentric duelist.

Everyone waited to see if he would in fact respond to her, but he continued to silently sip at his tea. Finally, Yugi quietly asked, "What was the purpose of bringing us all here?"

Pegasus smiled in a soft, quirky way. "As I told you earlier, Yugi-boy, this holiday was one of Cecilia's favorites. I haven't been able to deal with it in years. The loneliness it evoked was too much to bear-"

"You were feeling lonely?" Joey asked, incredulously.

Ignoring the question, Pegasus continued, "-so I thought it might be fun to make the day less lonely by sharing it with others."

"You call this 'fun'?" Kaiba was greatly annoyed.

"Of course, Kaiba-boy! Playing games with you all has certainly brightened my day." His voice was casual, as if the group had spent an afternoon engaged in simple games instead of a day in life-or-death games for the lives and souls of some of their number.

"That does it! Mokuba, we're leaving!" The teen grabbed his younger brother, who was still stirring sugar cubes into his tea, and dragged him out.

Watching the Kaiba brothers leave, Mai stood up from the table, "I really should get going, too."

"Wait!" Serenity jumped from her chair. "I'll walk with you!" Tristan and Joey both quickly followed Serenity, each for his own overprotective reasons.

Realizing they were being left behind, Yugi and Tea quickly escaped the table and followed their friends out the door.

* * *

Alone again in his hall, Pegasus pulled back a set of drapes to reveal the portrait of a beautiful woman. Lost in happy memories of a past life, he sipped his tea and missed her. 


End file.
